Alpine boss Michael van der Sande appointed new head of JLR Special Operations

Alpine boss Michael van der Sande has been appointed as new managing director of Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations department, changing John Edwards.

Edwards will go away in June after 27 years of carrier at JLR, 4 of that have been as managing director of SVO, which he has headed because it introduced again in 2014.

Newly appointed SVO boss van der Sande brings with him revel in from Aston Martin, Tesla and Harley Davidson. He maximum just lately oversaw the advance of the new Alpine A110 sports activities automotive and is the second one senior Alpine worker to go away the logo in fresh weeks, following its leader engineer David Twohig’s transfer to Byton.

Van der Sande stated: “In just four years Special Operations has established itself as a force in the automotive world with outstanding cars such as the Jaguar F-Type SVR and Range Rover SV Coupé (below), coupled with the revitalisation of the Classic business and continuation models such as the Jaguar XKSS. These are exceptional achievements and I relish the opportunity to lead the team behind these achievements to even greater success.”

JLR CEO Ralf Speth stated: “John [Edwards] has been instrumental within the formation and luck of Jaguar Land Rover Classic and has led the workforce in the back of our world-beating SVR and SVAutobiography fashions – vehicles that our maximum discerning shoppers love. He will probably be sorely neglected.”

Edwards, who introduced his intentions to go away these days, stated the alternate leaves SVO “in excellent shape for the future”.

He is the 3rd high-ranking government to go away in fresh months, following the departure of international former technique director Adrian Hallmark and previous workforce gross sales operations boss Andy Goss.

Hallmark departed to steer Bentley as CEO, whilst Goss’s function was once absorbed right through a control shake-up that noticed Felix Braeuetigam sign up for as leader business officer.

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